You Can Train Your Voice to Make You a Better Public Speaker

Want to master that big meeting? It's all about the tone of your voice.

Ever notice how politicians seem to have a completely different voice—down to the accent—depending on which state they're campaigning in? It turns out science is on their side. New research presented at the annual meeting of the Acoustic Society of America in Indianapolis shows that good public speakers use a mix of high and low pitches—and that you can manipulate your voice to get what you want.

Researchers at UCLA recorded speeches by prominent male leaders and politicians in Italy, France and Brazil. They used a synthesizer to blur the actual meaning of the words said while keeping the tones, duration and rhythms recognizable. They then asked study participants to listen to the speeches and give each speaker qualities like sexy, wise, fair, dishonest or attractive.

They found that no matter the language, effective speakers share similar qualities that get people to respond, regardless of what they're actually saying. Speakers who had lower voices were perceived as dominant or threatening, and speakers who had higher voices were perceived as sincere, calm and reassuring, but also submissive.

Both types of tones can be considered charismatic in different ways, depending on who's listening. The researchers found the best speakers were the ones who stretched their vocal register to both high and low points, depending on what they were saying and who their audiences were.

So far, the research has only been on men; women have differences in their vocal cords that may make their results different. But lead researcher Rosario Signorello says anyone can learn to alter their voice to make them more effective. "The voice is a tool that can be trained," he told the Wall Street Journal. "Singers and actors train their voices to reach higher or lower frequencies. A leader-speaker should do the same."